


Falling Into Place

by zimmiebitty (Angelwithwingsoffire)



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Coming Out, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M, One-Sided Attraction, The Haus, or is it???
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-10
Updated: 2017-02-10
Packaged: 2018-09-23 06:49:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9645110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angelwithwingsoffire/pseuds/zimmiebitty
Summary: Four times someone came out to Bitty or Jack and One Time they came out to the World.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This was gonna be a five and one but its two am and I'm too tired so now its a four and one.  
> I'm trying a new style as well, doing a storybook feel with flashbacks and shit. Idk I'm exhausted.  
> If there's mistakes let me know so I can fix them as I never have a beta.

 

1.

Ever since Bitty came out freshmen year he’s never hidden his sexuality from people on campus. He’s comfortable at Samwell in a way he hasn’t been at home in a very long time. Everyone on the team knows, even the tadpoles. He never really outright told them but he knew that he acted not-straight enough that all of them had gone to their captains and asked about it. Ransom and Holster had gotten tired of it after the third time and declared at a team meeting that “Bitty was gay as could be and happy as fuck and if anyone had a fucking problem with that they could leave the team immediately”. Bitty had been extremely embarrassed at the time but afterwards it was pretty funny looking back. And he was thankful for it as it made him an openly gay ally to anyone on the team or team adjacent to talk to if needed. And thus, he replaced Shitty as the team member to talk to about any and every sexuality issue.

The first person to come out to Bitty was Tango and it wasn’t as much of a coming out as an interrogation as Tango wanted to know everything possible about being gay, being in a gay relationship, and being gay at Samwell.

 *

_“Bitty?” Tango asked, coming into the kitchen._

_“Yes sweetheart?” Bitty asked, looking up from the pie crust he was filling_

_“Can I talk to you?” Tango asked nervously. “I have a lot of questions and I don’t know who else to talk to.”_

_Bitty’s eyes narrowed, taking in the nervous nature of the normally unashamedly curious boy, and nodded. “Let me get this in the oven and then we’ll have some time. Do you want to talk here or in my room?”_

_“In your room?”_

_Bitty nodded. “Okay, why don’t you go on up and I’ll be there right there.”_

_Tango smiled nervously and left the room, leaving Bitty to worry in silence as he quickly finished the pie and got in the oven, setting the timer on his phone as he went up to his room._

_When he pushed the door open, he saw Tango sitting cross-legged at the end of his bed, staring at the Beyonce poster on the wall._

_“What’s going on sweetheart?” Bitty asked, slipping his shoes off and sitting down next to Tango._

_“You’re gay, right?” Tango asked._

_Bitty nodded, used to the lack of filter in some of Tango’s questions. “Yes.”_

_“How did you know?”_

_Bitty stared at Tango. “How did I know?”_

_Tango nodded slowly, finally ripping his eyes away from the poster as well. “Yea. How did you know that you liked guys, not girls?”_

_“Well,” Bitty thought for a moment. “When I was little, all the other boys would talk about girls, liking girls, and I got on well enough with all of ‘em but I never took to them like the others did. I never wanted to chase them or annoy them because I thought it was funny, I just wanted to be their friend. And that was all well and good until about middle school when puberty started hitting and the other boys didn’t just want to annoy girls anymore, they wanted to kiss them and date them and touch them, and I didn’t. I never did.”_

_“How did you know you liked guys?” Tango whispered._

_Bitty smiled. “I saw Jason Clark shirtless and damn near killed myself falling over.”_

_Tango looked at him incrediously._

_“It’s true!” Bitty laughed. “Jason Clark was the best looking fellow in town, he was the star running back on Coach’s football team and every guy wanted to be him and every girl wanted to date him. Coach would bring the boys around sometimes to work on trick plays in the backyard during the summer, watching from the window and sending me out to tell them things so he wasn’t breaking the training rules for the NCAA, and one day when he sent me out to tell Jason to stop cutting right all the time, Jason stripped his shirt off right in front of me and down I went like a sack of flour. Banged my head real hard on the ground, busted it right open.”_

_“What happened?” Tango asked._

_“Jason carried me inside to Coach and my mama to get my head looked at and I went damn near delirious being pressed against all that muscle.”_

_Tango laughed. “That’s awful.”_

_“It truly was.” Bitty agreed, smiling. “But that’s what started me thinking that maybe what other boys felt towards girls, I was supposed to be feeling towards guys. It wasn’t till a few months later that I realized what that meant and that being gay was never something I could be open with in Georgia.”_

_“And that’s why you’re here?”_

_“Yep.” Bitty grinned. “One of the best decisions I’ve ever made.”_

_Tango smiled. “Okay.”_

_“Is there anything else you want to know?”_

_Tango bit his lip, clearly considering something._

_“Yes?” Bitty prompted._

_“You can’t tell anyone.” Tango told him._

_“Tango, sweetheart, you clearly don’t know the rule but what’s side in the privacy of my room will never leave it unless it’s information that could hurt you or someone else.” Bitty told him. “I don’t blab other people’s secrets.”_

_Tango nodded. “How do the others feel about people dating within the team?”_

_Bitty laughed. “Tango, sweetheart, no one this team cares about anything more than you being happy. After that all they want is you playing well. So long as it doesn’t mess with your game, a relationship in team is just fine and dandy. But know that if you go for it and it fails, this team doesn’t take sides. We’ll make you work it out.”_

_“Okay.” Tango took a deep breath. “Thank you.”_

_“That all you needed?”_

_“Yes. I think so.”_

_Bitty smiled. “You are always welcome to ask more questions. You can ask anything but I won’t answer everything.”_

_“Thank you Bitty.”_

_“Of course sugar.” Bitty grinned. “Now we best get downstairs the pie’ll be done soon and the good lord knows the rest of this team never waits till it’s cool to eat it unless I’m there to scold them.”_

_Tango laughed at that, getting up and putting his shoes back on. “I have to go. I’m meeting Whiskey for coffee at Annie’s. Thanks for this.”_

2.

After Tango, it seemed like the dam broke. Bitty had people asking him about being gay all the time. At first it was mostly online, more of the questions on his videos being about himself instead of his cooking, but then it started happening in his offline life as well. It was mostly people he didn’t know. A girl in one of his seminars came out to him by walking up to him, declaring herself a lesbian, and walking away. He merely clapped after her and smiled wide when she turned back around. And she wasn’t the only one. He took to carrying a few sweets wherever he went just in case someone decided to come out to him. About a month after Tango came out to him though, another teammate (or two) did the same thing.

 *

_“Hey Bitty, you got a second?” Dex asked, sticking his head in kitchen._

_“Of course honey what do you need?”_

_“Can I talk to you? Privately?”_

_Bitty looked up at him. “Is this a ploy to get me out of the kitchen so one of the others can steal the pie I just made?”_

_“No.” Dex said immediately. “I think everyone else is still at class.”_

_“Okay honey.” Bitty nodded, noticing how jumpy Dex was. “You want to talk here or upstairs?”_

_“Whatever you want.” Dex told him. “I don’t want to be a bother.”_

_“Okay well do you mind sitting in here? I want to keep an eye on the pie in the oven. It’s a new recipe and I ain’t sure how it’s gonna come out.”_

_Dex smiled. “That’s fine.”_

_“Alright then sit down and I’ll get you a slice of the one I made earlier and we can have this chat.”_

_“Thanks Bitty.”_

_“Of course sweetheart.” Bitty smiled kindly, getting the piece, one of the bigger ones in the pie, and plating it for him, handing it over as he sat down across from him. “Now what’s going on sugar?”_

_“I’m gay.” Dex blurted out, staring at his hands and the pie in front of him._

_“Okay.” Bitty nodded. “Thank you for trusting me with that.”_

_Dex looked up at him. “You’re not mad?”_

_“Dex why would I, an openly gay man, be upset or mad by you telling me that you are also gay?”_

_Dex bit his lip. “Cuz I’m from a small town and I’ve said mean things about it that I know you’ve heard them and I know they probably offended you and I’m sorry.”_

_“Sweetheart I know those are just defense mechanisms.” Bitty assured him. “You have no idea how many awful things I have to say at home in order to fit in. I completely understand.”_

_“I’m still sorry.” Dex whispered._

_Bitty smiled. “I accept your polite but unnecessary apology. Now can I ask what brought this on?”_

_Dex bit his lip._

_“Is it Nursey?” Bitty asked softly._

_Dex closed his eyes quickly, obviously holding back emotions._

_Bitty smiled. “Sweetheart, you don’t have to hide from me.”_

_“He’s my_ teammate _.” Dex whispered. “It’s not allowed.”_

_“And who told you that?” Bitty demanded._

_“My teammates back home.” Dex whispered. “Looking wasn’t allowed, why would dating?”_

_“Do you really think this team to be that bigoted with me on it?” Bitty asked. “And have you seen Ransom and Holster in the locker room? I swear to god those boys have seen everyone’s ass and analyzed it for muscle density and bounce.”_

_Dex laughed a bit at that._

_“Dex, there is no one here who would hate you for crushing on a teammate. Heck, Rans and Holster have both admitted to crushing on Jack in ‘totally platonic ways’ when he was still here. No one will care. And if they do, you send them to me and I’ll set their record straight.”_

_“Thanks Bitty.” Dex tried to smile but it was still shaky. “But what am I supposed to do about it? He doesn’t like me back?”_

_“How do you know? Have you asked him?”_

_“No.”_

_“Then how do you know?”_

_“I just do.”_

_“Dex, people don’t just know other people’s sexuality.” Bitty sighed. “And even if you know that, you can’t know who they like without asking.”_

_“I can’t ask.” Dex’s voice broke. “What if I’m right and he doesn’t? He’ll hate me!”_

_“He will not.” Bitty said firmly._

_“He will!” Dex exclaimed. “He’ll hate my guts again, and I just started being able to be friends with him.”_

_“Dex…”_

_“No!” Dex exclaimed. “I can’t tell Nursey!”_

_“Can’t tell me what?”_

_Bitty and Dex both nearly gave themselves whiplash looking at the doorway, where Nurssey now stood._

_“Can’t tell me what Dex?” Nursey repeated._

_“He can’t tell you that he accidently fell asleep at your poetry slam the other night that we all went to because he thinks you’ll hate him for it.” Bitty said quickly, lying easily to cover up Dex’s silence. It wasn’t entirely a lie, Dex did fall asleep at the poetry reading Nursey did that most of the team tried to go to._

_Nursey laughed. “Dex, dude, I knew that already. I saw you in the crowd, the lights aren’t that blinding. It was actually pretty funny.”_

_Dex smiled shakily. “Still, I feel bad.”_

_“Don’t.” Nursey shrugged. “I know you had a hard day and I’m sure you didn’t mean to. I’m just happy you still tried to come with as tired as you obviously were.”_

_“See?” Bitty smiled. “I told you he wouldn’t be mad.”_

_“Thanks Bitty.” Dex smiled, pushing back down the emotions their talk had brought up._

_“Now, seeing as you were home first what pie would you like?” Bitty asked, making up an excuse to make Dex the coming out pie that he deserved._

_“Cherry?”_

3.

Bitty wasn’t the only one people were coming out to though. Jack was also having quite the time. They came out to their team not long after Dex’s conversation with Bitty, Bitty’s ‘subtle’ way of showing him that dating a teammate is fine. The team of course was overjoyed, figuring out who’d won the betting pool about them while the pair of them just sat there in confused silence, but they were happy it went so well. They knew the team wouldn’t hate them, but they didn’t know how well they’d take the news, after all it was their team and they knew how bad they could be. But in the end they were happy, and it meant that Jack was also now an option for teammates to talk to about being gay and playing hockey. It was a Tuesday morning when one of them decided to take him up on the never-verbalized offer.

 *

_Jack was watching a new history documentary on women’s roles in the second world war, specifically in the Pacific Theater, when there was a loud knock on his door. He wasn’t expecting anyone but figured it might be Tater trying to drag him out somewhere so he got up to open the door only to find Ransom on the other side._

_“Rans?”_

_“Hi.” Ransom smiled shyly, raising a hand in greeting. “Mind if I come in?”_

_“Not at all.” Jack declared, stepping aside. “But shouldn’t you be at school?”_

_“My classes got cancelled today and I needed to get away.”_

_“So you took a train all the way here?”_

_“Actually Holster let me borrow his car.” Ransom corrected. “But basically yes.”_

_“What’s going on?” Jack asked, leading Ransom into the kitchen. Bitty had been by that weekend and he knew there was still some pie in the fridge._

_“I just-I needed to get out of there.” Ransom choked out._

_“So you said.” Jack nodded, getting the pie out. “Any particular reason for this fleeing?”_

_Ransom sighed. “Yeah.”_

_“Okay.” Jack nodded, knowing it wouldn’t do any good to push. So instead he just heated up the pie and changed the subject. “Do you want milk with your pie or beer?”_

_“Milk.” Ransom answered. “It’s too early for beer.”_

_“Don’t ever let Shitty hear you say that.” Jack joked._

_Ransom cracked a smile and just accepted the glass of milk and slice of warmed up pie with a nod. “Bitty loves being able to just say he’s coming here and see you.”_

_“I know.” Jack grinned. “He tells me so every time he gets here and he didn’t have to lie to leave the Haus.”_

_Ransom smiled, poking at the pie. “You two are really happy, aren’t you?”_

_Jack nodded. “Yea, we really are.”_

_“Are you ever planning on coming out? To the world I mean.”_

_“Maybe.” Jack shrugged. “Definitely not for a while. I don’t want Bitty to have to deal with the aftermath and the fallout while he’s still at school.”_

_“Makes sense.”_

_The room fell silent for a long moment, only broken by the sounds of Ransom eating his pie, before Jack finally spoke again._

_“Rans? Why are you really here?” Jack prodded. “We’ve known each other for years and after Holster I know your anxiety the best and I can see it bothering you. I don’t want to push but I do want to make sure you’re okay.”_

_Ransom sighed. “It’s Holster.”_

_“What’s wrong with him?” Jack asked, immediately worried._

_“Nothing’s wrong with_ him _.” Ransom told him._

_“Okay, then what’s going on?”_

_“I love him.” Ransom whispered. “I think I always have. Even when I dated March, there were days that all I wanted to was curl up with him and watch one of his stupid shows and not have to think for a while. It’s only gotten worse since we broke up.”_

_Jack nodded slowly, thinking for a moment. “What do you love about him?”_

_“Everything.” Ransom admitted. “His laugh, his smile, his face, his butt.”_

_“Sounds like everything important.” Jack laughed. “Why is this an issue? Or why do you think it is?”_

_“Who says I think it’s an issue?”_

_“Rans, you showed up at my door on a Tuesday morning almost to an anxiety attack, I could tell. Obviously you think something is wrong here.”_

_Ransom’s shoulders slumped. “Yea.”_

_“Okay, what’s wrong?”_

_“He doesn’t like me back. Not like that. We’re just best bros and that’s all we’ll ever be but I don’t think I can love someone else when he’s still in my life.” Ransom explained. “And I need someone like that, I need someone to love who loves me back and who will take care of me when I need it and let me take care of them when they need it. I need someone like Holster, but who actually loves me back.”_

_“Ransom, how do you know he doesn’t?”_

_Ransom flinched at the question. “He_ told _me.” He whispered. “At the kegster this weekend he got wasted and he told me that he’s so happy that we’re best bros because nothing is ever awkward between us and he can trust me with everything because he knows I won’t let him fall.”_

_“Well it sounds like he cares plenty about you.” Jack tried._

_“But only ever as friends.” Ransom was starting to cry a bit now so Jack got up and moved around the table to put an arm around him. “No one with a crush on someone offers up the room on a regular basis so you can have a private place for you and your girlfriend to get it on. No one is that good at hiding any sort of crush.”_

_“Maybe he is.” Jack reassured him. “Maybe he loves you so much that all he wants is you to be happy and if that isn’t with him then he’s okay with that.”_

_“But it is with him!” Ransom exclaimed._

_“Does he know that?” Jack asked._

_Ransom was silent. “You’re saying I have to at least hint at it. Give him a chance to show me he cares about me too.”_

_“Maybe.” Jack nodded._

_“And if it all goes bad?”_

_“Then you turn around and you come back here and we’ll eat all the pies Bitty’s left in my freezer.”_

4.

Just after they told their team, Jack came out to the Falconers as well, telling all of them that it wasn’t his girlfriend making all the pies they loved so much, but his boyfriend. The only reaction was Snowy asking when they could meet him and if he’d bring pies. Jack had assured him that would happen and everything was fine. It wasn’t until two weeks later that his teammate Tater returned the favor.

 *

_“Zimmboni!”_

_Jack turned around, holding the door to the rink open to look back and see Tater running towards him. “What’s up Tater?”_

_“Can we get meal together?” Tater asked. “Have something to ask.”_

_“Sure thing.” Jack smiled. “Let me text Bits and let him know I’ll be home later so he doesn’t avoid his homework waiting for me to get on Skype.”_

_“Oh we no have to go!” Tater exclaimed. “Don’t want to pull you away from Itty Bitty.”_

_Jack laughed. “Don’t worry about it. We talk every day, an hour or two later won’t matter.”_

_Tater smiled. “If you sure.”_

_“Of course, I wouldn’t offer if I wasn’t.” Jack assured him. “You want to ride with me?”_

_“Please.” Tater nodded. “Car still not working correct.”_

_“That’s a bummer.” Jack nodded. “They know what’s wrong with it?”_

_“Say cylinder is broke.” Tater shrugged. “It be some time before fixed so I catch ride with Poots usually.”_

_“That’s got to be fun.” Jack laughed._

_“Poots is good kid, very young though.” Tater told him. “Very silly.”_

_“Yes he is.” Jack agreed, unlocking the car as they approached it. “But a damn good player when he concentrates.”_

_Tater nodded, getting in the passenger’s seat. “He very good. Not best though.”_

_“No he isn’t.” Jack agreed, starting the car and getting ready to go. “But he doesn’t have to be.”_

_Tater nodded silently._

_“Tater?” Jack asked, pausing before reversing out of the spot to look at his teammate and friend. “What’s going on?”_

_“You have boyfriend.” Tater whispered._

_“Yeees?” Jack drew out the word, questioning the topic._

_“And you have no fear about it?” Tater asked, looking up at him._

_“Of course not.” Jack shrugged. “This team has already proven to be full of good guys with big hearts and desire to just play the game, regardless of personal life choices like who we date.”_

_“But you no fear others? Outside of team?”_

_Jack shrugged, finally driving out of the parking lot towards the restaurant he and Tater always get dinner at when one of them wants to go out instead of eating at home after practice. “I have all my friends and I know George wouldn’t let the media get a hold of too much. I trust the people around me to have my back, just like I have theirs.”_

_“Everyone?”_

_“Of course.” Jack nodded firmly. “If there’s one thing I learned at Samwell, it was that you aren’t a team if you don’t have each others’ backs.”_

_Tater nodded and fell silent for a while. They were almost to the restaurant before he spoke up again. “Is not okay to be out back home.” He whispered. “Ever since new laws, it not safe. I came here to be safe, but too scared to be out.”_

_Jack turned slowly, looking at Tater. “Alexei…”_

_Tater stared down at his hands in his lap and he had never looked so small. “I want to find what you have. Want to find love. But am scared.”_

_“It’s terrifying.” Jack agreed. “I know it is. I’ve only recently been comfortable with it and to be quite honest it is all Bitty’s fault.”_

_Tater chuckled at that._

_“It’s true.” Jack shrugged. “He’s made my life brighter and he’s made me stronger. Strong enough to face…all of this.”_

_“I want that.” Tater admitted._

_“You can have it.” Jack smiled. “It’s not banned here.”_

_“But league…”_

_“Fuck the league. And fuck anyone who thinks you shouldn’t have that.” Jack spat. He didn’t swear often but he wasn’t an angel, he knew how to swear. “Everyone deserves to be happy with someone they love. If that means you’re a guy loving a guy than so what? Love is love and no one should be able to convince you otherwise.”_

_Tater stared at Jack, surprised by his outburst._

_Jack blushed. “Sorry, one of my friends at college spent a long time beating that into me and I’m glad I didn’t disappoint him.”_

_Tater smiled. “You believe that.”_

_“Of course.” Jack said firmly. “It’s the truth, regardless of what the anxiety in me says sometimes.”_

_“You help me?”_

_“Help you with what?”_

_“Find this. Find my own little Itty Bitty.”_

_Jack laughed. “Yea Tater, I’ll help you find your own little Itty Bitty.”_

_Tater beamed. “Good. Now we eat?”_

_“Yes. Now we eat.”_

 

+1.

Four years after Jack ran across campus and kissed Bitty, the Samwell Men’s Hockey Team was having it’s yearly visit to the Bittles. It started the year after Ransom, Holster, and Lardo graduated as a way to make sure the group stuck together. They were guaranteed time together during the holidays and for the Fourth of July. It was a week hated by the nutritionists for the Falconers, the Sharks, and the Bruins as there was nothing stopping Jack, Chowder, or Holster from eating all that they could of the delicious food Suzanne Bittle was such an expert at making. It was hard to get together most of the year, what with three different NHL schedules to work around, but they made it work. Whenever Chowder’s schedule brought him out to the east coast to play one of the others, the rest of the group made their best efforts to be at the games, equally decked out in merchandise so no one got offended. It made for some interesting group photos, ones that often went viral on Instagram and Twitter. But tonight, a different kind of picture was going to be going viral. A picture of revelation for most of the world.

 *

_“Are we seriously gonna do this?” Shitty demanded. “Tonight?”_

_Jack and Bitty looked at each other, matching smiles on their faces, before turning back and nodding in sync. “Definitely.”_

_“Well alright then.” Shitty nodded, handing the phone back. “During the fireworks?”_

_“We want something so cliché they can’t help but love it.” Bitty smiled. “And what’s more cliché than a picture kissing under the Fourth of July fireworks.”_

_“I’ve already set it all up, you just have to click the button.” Jack told him, pointing at the camera tripod set up not far away. “It’s framed to fit us and the sky but not show off too much of where we are. We don’t want people stalking the Bittles.”_

_“Lord knows Coach would not take well to that.” Bitty sighed. “But he’d scare them off right quick.”_

_“I still can’t get over how Southern you get down here.” Lardo smirked._

_“Oh leave me be, Ms. Boston.” Bitty chirped back, calling her out for the Boston accent she’d nearly developed during her time living there with Shitty._

_Lardo rolled her eyes, getting cut off from responding by Chowder._

_“I can’t believe we’re all so happy!” He exclaimed. “who would have thought three years ago that we’d all be here today, all so happy in our lives.”_

_“Well I had hopes of it!” Bitty exclaimed._

_“I didn’t think it’d be like this.” Farmer smiled happily. “I knew we’d all find things and people to make us happy, but who would have thought that it would be like this.”_

_“If you’re talking about the two lovebirds over there that used to try and kill each other, I agree.” Shitty nodded, looking at Nursey and Dex._

_“Oh fuck off!” Dex called back. “Like you thought you’d be with Lardo!”_

_“Chill out babe.” Nursey grinned._

_Dex closed his eyes, obviously fighting the urge to snap back. Nursey just snickered._

_“Yea but we all knew how those two lovebirds were gonna turn out.” Lardo laughed, nodding at Ransom and Hoslter, curled up together on a blanket by the truck already._

_“Leave me and my precious coral reef alone.” Holster told her. “We figured ourselves out before you and Shitty so you can shut the fuck up.”_

_“That’s enough.” Bitty declared. “We are going to have a nice, chirp-free experience with the fireworks this year. There will be no repeats of last year’s ‘Chirp Battle’ or I will cut all of you off from Mama’s pies.”_

_The whole group was silent._

_“Well that worked.” Jack laughed, causing the whole group to burst out laughing as well._

_Bitty just sighed and leaned back against Jack’s chest, looking up at the sky. “The fireworks should start soon y’all, we should get laying down so we can watch.”_

_The group immediately jumped into action, claiming the prime spots on the blankets as quickly as they could to watch the show._

_“I love you.” Jack whispered to Bitty once they were comfortable, sitting on the ground and leaning up against the tire of the truck._

_“I love you too sweetheart.” Bitty smiled, tilting his head back to get the kiss Jack was teasing against his ear. “And I’m proud of you for doing this.”_

_“It’s all because of you.” Jack told him. “All of…everything.”_

_They could hear Shitty taking photos but they couldn’t be bothered to look away from each other until the first loud ‘boom’ shook the sky._

_“I’ve always loved fireworks.” Bitty sighed, settling back against Jack’s chest and looking up at the sky._

_“I do too.” Jack agreed. “But they’re not as beautiful as you.”_

 *

Later that night, a photo was posted on Jack Zimmermann’s official Instagram account that nearly broke Twitter and every other social media platform out there. It was a simple photo of two people, one clearly being him and the other clearly being a smaller male, leaning up against the rim of a mud-covered tire and looking up at a sky filled with fireworks. Both of them were smiling, clearly happy right where they had found themselves that night. The spreading of this photo was only spurred on by a photo posted the next morning by Jack’s teammate, Alexei Mashkov, of him curled up in bed with a small blonde and a tabby cat with a wide grin on his face. Everyone was happy, and love had finally fallen into place.


End file.
